title: Pulmonary alveolar microlithiasis: imaging characteristics of planar and SPECT/CT bone scan versus 18F-FDG and 18F-sodium fluoride PET/CT scanning.
abstract: Pulmonary alveolar microlithiasis (PAM) is a very rare disease in which multiple microscopic calcium phosphate microliths are deposited within the alveoli of both lungs. A lung biopsy is considered to be definitive for final diagnosis; however, non-invasive imaging modalities such as chest X-ray, HRCT scan and (99m)Tc-MDP bone scan suggest the diagnosis in the vast majority of patients. Although (18)F-FDG PET/CT has been tried to characterize the disease, (18)F-sodium fluoride PET/CT as a 'proof-of-principle' was tried for the first time in a known case of PAM in order to characterize the lung lesions. Interestingly, we noted that (18)F-sodium fluoride PET/CT is a superior modality in characterization and assessment of the extent of disease in PAM compared to all other non-invasive imaging modalities. Thus, we recommend that (18)F-sodium fluoride PET/CT should be the investigation of choice in PAM.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Ansari Nagar, New Delhi, 110029, India, drmksahoo@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Manas Kumar
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Sahoo
authors.forename: Sellam
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Karunanithi
authors.forename: Chandra Shekhar
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Bal
mesh_terms: D002114:Calcinosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005462:Fluorine Radioisotopes; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D030342:Genetic Diseases, Inborn / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D049268:Positron-Emission Tomography / Q000379:methods; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D035583:Rare Diseases; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012969:Sodium Fluoride; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon / Q000379:methods; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D005462:Fluorine Radioisotopes; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D019788:Fluorodeoxyglucose F18; D012969:Sodium Fluoride